Love You Better Now
by PussyWillowCat
Summary: And sometimes he's afraid he's fallen in love with memories. Jack/Rose, a happy ending


_I'm gonna pick up the pieces,_

_And build a Lego house_

_If things go wrong we can knock it down_

Rose laughs softly, shaking her hair back from her eyes.

Her and Jack are sitting in the console room. It's late and the lights have dimmed. The Doctor is asleep.

"He didn't," she giggles.

"Oh, but he did," Jack grins. Her head is resting on his shoulder and he feels like his body has been lit on fire.

"My god," she sighs. "That's hysterical."

He shrugs and she looks up just as he looks down. Blue and brown eyes, cheeks flushed, matching looks of happiness on their faces.

His lips meet hers, and for both of them it's a collision of colors- red, blue, green, yellow.

He pulls back and they both laugh.

"Wow," he murmurs.

"I know."

And then they're kissing again, and that's all they do for a while.

"Jack," she begins. "Should we tell-"

"No," he interrupts. "Let's just… see if things go right."

Her concerned gaze meets his. "And if they go wrong?"

He shrugs. "We start over."

_My three words have two meanings,_

_There's one thing on my mind_

_It's all for you_

"Where's Rose?"

"I sent her home."

He nods, backs away again. It's the best decision, to send her home, he supposes. But Rose hates it, he can tell even though she's so far away.

"I love you," he whispers.

"EMOTION. IS. USELESS."

He cackles, eyeing the Dalek. "Yeah, okay buddy."

Rose isn't useless. Never has been, never will. She's his and he loves her and this is all for her.

And as the Dalek raises it's gun, and his eyes widen and he feels the rush of death, there are only three words on his mind.

_I love you._

Only it means so many things, _I love you, and I need you and this is for you._

_And it's dark in a cold December, but I've got you to keep me warm_

_If you're broken I will mend you and I'll keep you sheltered from the storm that's raging on now_

_I'm out of touch, I'm out of love_

_I'll pick you up when you're getting down_

_And out of all these things I've done I think I love you better now_

It's been years.

So, so long. Too long. Far, far too long.

He stares out the window moodily. It's Christmas time, and the outside is dark, broken occasionally by the glow of lights.

Isn't Christmas the time to be with the one you love?

He laughs bitterly. He's spent many Christmases alone, countless, really.

And he sort of wants to die.

It's cold.

He shivers slightly. Goosebumps rise on his skin, and he stares at them.

Oh, he misses her. He really, really misses her.

Over the years, he thinks about her and he's fallen in love all over again (sometimes, this worries him because she's just a memory) with her browns eyes and her gold hair and her tongue in teeth smile. Everything.

They worry about him, he knows. They worry about his vacant expression, his empty eyes. They worry about the broken look on his face.

He used to think he was unfixable.

He knows now that he isn't.

It's just the one thing that _can _fix him is too far away.

_I'm out of sight, I'm out of mind_

_I'll do it all for you in time_

_And out of all these things I've done I think I love you better now_

The vortex manipulator.

He doesn't know how it worked. Why it worked.

But that's okay.

Because he's a universe closer to her then he was before.

He still can't find her.

He can't. She isn't where he'd thought she'd be, isn't there. Isn't working in a shop, or living in the Powell Estate.

Where is she?

He decides he can wait a little longer. He's waited so long already, what's a little more?

He decides to make himself better, because before he wasn't good enough for her, for Rose. Wasn't good enough to kiss, wasn't good enough to have those brown eyes full of adoration trained on him. He wasn't good enough.

But he could be.

So slowly, he makes things better. Stops bad things, deals with bad people.

_Superman, _he thinks humourlessly. He doesn't want to be Superman, or even special. He just wants to be with her.

_I'm gonna paint you by numbers_

_And colour you in_

_If things go right we can frame it and put you on a wall_

_And it's so hard to say it but I've been here before_

_Now I'll surrender up my heart_

_And swap it for yours_

He sees her for the first time.

It's early afternoon. He's strolling down the street, head bowed, hands in pockets. He isn't looking where he's going, or at least not until he hears it.

Her laugh.

With a violent jolt he's brought back to late nights in his room, leaned against each other, her giggling at his raucous laughter.

Early mornings waking up with her, golden hair spread out against the pillow, her laugh at his grumpy 'it's too early.'

Drowsy afternoons spent in the kitchen as she attempts to teach him to cook and chuckles at the disaster.

It's bittersweet to think about, because he misses it so much but it's happy, too, because he loves her. Always will love her.

He looks up.

Her head is thrown back, brown eyes dancing.

Her tongue isn't between her teeth.

Instantly he wonders what happened, because he knows that when she's truly happy, her tongue is there. When it isn't, it means she's just pretending to be happy.

His eyes meet hers. Brown and blue, fake joy and real sorrow.

Her eyes widen.

_I'm out of touch, I'm out of love_

_I'll pick you up when you're getting down_

_And out of all these things I've done I think I love you better now_

_I'm out of sight, I'm out of mind_

_I'll do it all for you in time_

_And out of all these things I've done I think I love you better now_

And now their running, she's shoving past people as fast as she can and he's walking towards her as rapidly as he can.

"_Jack!?"_ she exclaims, and he grins because he's missed the way she says his name so much.

"Rose," he murmurs, and he hugs her close to him.

"Is it you? Or is it the parallel you?"

He chuckles, and for the first time in a long time he knows it's real.

"It's the real me."

Her chocolate eyes fill with tears and she kisses him and it's just like he remembers (better, because now he isn't in love with memories) and he slowly feels whole again.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Rose."

Only it means so many things, _I love you, and I need you and this is for you._

_Don't hold me down_

_I think my braces are breaking, and it's more than I can take_

_And it's dark in a cold December, but I've got you to keep me warm_

_If you're broken I will mend you and I'll keep you sheltered from the storm that's raging on now_

_I'm out of touch, I'm out of love_

_I'll pick you up when you're getting down_

_And out of all these things I've done I think I love you better now_

"You're immortal?"

"Yes."

Her eyes widen. "Jack, I'm so so-"

He places a finger over her lips. "Don't. You don't need to be sorry."

He slowly removes his hand.

"But Jack, I-"

"No."

Slowly, she nods. "Alright." And then she laughs, and his heart swells at the sound. "It's a funny story."

"What is?"

"I can't die."

His brain takes a while to register what she said.

"What?"

"I can't die, either. Bad Wolf, Jack."

His eyes widen and he kisses her, because he loves her. He loves her so much and it's no longer bittersweet.

It's just sweet.

_I'm out of sight, I'm out of mind_

_I'll do it all for you in time_

_And out of all these things I've done I think I love you better now__  
__I'm out of touch, I'm out of love_

_I'll pick you up when you're getting down_

_And out of all these things I've done I will love you better now_

_**A/N**_

_**Lyrics from Lego House – Ed Sheeran.**_

_** was acting weird, you might get a couple of emails in a row about this story.**_

_**Please review.**_


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